Tuesday, October 28, 2008

So I thought you might want to know a little bit about our new town, Gillette. Or at least know where it's located? Check out the map below. If some of you forgot, I grew up in Billings, MT. Tom has family in Sheridan and Buffalo. (Buffalo is between Sheridan and Gillette) We are one hour from Devil's Tower and about 2 hours from Mt. Rushmore. So we have a little bit of site seeing near by.

This is about he prettiest picture I could find of Gillette! Even people who have lived there many years will admit it's not the prettiest location. I have to say that when we lived in Boise, I would complain a little bit about the lack of trees and beauty in the area (no offense to my Boise readers). BUT, now I have to say that Gillette REALLY doesn't have any trees! So I'm missing the trees and rivers we are used to. However, you only have to drive about an hour to see some of the most beautiful mountains. Gillette is called the "Razor City" because of the popular "Gillette Razors". Tom tried to convince me that the factory that makes Gillette razors was actually in Gillette. It's not....he's always trying to trick me!

Gillette is a booming city because of the many coal mines in the area. (photos below) This area produces 89% of the coal in Wyoming and is also the leading producer of crude oil in Wyoming. The population is 27,000 and rapidly growing. My brother in law has a very successful business power washing and cleaning the huge coal mine equipment. We keep telling him they need to try and get "Dirty Jobs" to come and do their job! I haven't actually seen any of the mines yet, but at some point I might go take a tour. Oh, Gillette also is called the "Energy Capital of the Nation" too. I've been telling everyone how different Gillette is than what we are used to. First, it's the smallest town I've lived in so that takes a little getting used to. You can really tell it is a "mining town". Everyone drives trucks. I have probably counted 5-10 minivans in the whole city so far. I actually feel a little out of place driving a minivan! That's quite the change from Boise.... minivans were the norm! But, I have been surprised at how nice everyone is and how nice looking the town is. Most everything around town is kept up nice and a lot of buildings look newer. Shopping is def. limited, but we have a Walmart, Kmart, Albertson's, Applebee's, Papa Murphy's, Home Depot... and most of the normal fast food places. Word has it that we might get a Super Target! That would be a dream come true! As far as church goes, there are 3 wards and one student ward (there is a very small college).

So, I hope that helps you find out more about where we'll be living for who knows how long! We have been having a heck of a time finding a rental or any place to live. You wouldn't even believe all the options and directions we've looked at. We keep thinking something great must be coming our way because we sure have been looking hard, but nothing seems to work out. We weren't planning on buying, but we are almost being forced in that direction. Before we moved to Gillette we had heard that housing was hard to find, but I just figured,"Oh, we'll find something!" I guess they were right... it is hard! We had a few apartment buildings we were using as "back-up" plans. Those even fell through! So, we are seriously looking at buying now. We hate to do it so quickly, but we don't have much of a choice. So keep your fingers crossed we can find something fast and something nice!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

I definitely did not plan for snow when I was packing our stuff! We got a ton of snow in Gillette the past couple of days. It sounds like Montana and Wyoming or getting hit the hardest!

Looking out the back door onto the deck.

BBQ grill & deck.

This was a week or two ago...when it was still warm out! Evan, Clay, and Cole on the trampoline. We've all been getting a kick out of how Evan has to do everything that Clay and Cole do. He really wants to be a big kid just like his cousins!

Jumping on the trampoline...karaoke style!

Clay showing off his moves.

This was taken at the zoo in Montana when we were staying with my mom and dad. We got a great show from a few of the animals. We got to see the tiger, red panda, and bear really up close.... which is pretty rare at a zoo! The bear actually walked up to the window, stood up on it's hind legs and put his paws on the window we were standing at...it was awesome! Sadly, no one got any photos of it. My dad did get some video of the bear playing in his pond...I'll have to post it later.

Friday, October 10, 2008

I'd like to nominate the Bybee family (that's us) as "The Worst Guests EVER"! Tom and I are feeling pretty bad because we are such terrible guests. Where do I start? First off, we still haven't found a place to live(that's a whole nother story), so we've been mostly staying with Tom's sister. We definitely thought we'd have a place by now, so we feel guilty for staying so long. Tom started his new job so we've had to stick around Gillette while he works and we continue searching for a place. This past week ALL three of our kids got a stomach bug! Luckily, it was one time throwing up and then they were ok. But, Jordyn threw up all over Linda's new couch. Lovely. Linda was so great to help with the sick kids and having to deal with cleaning her new couch! Linda has also changed more poopy diapers than any Aunt should have to. Whenever we leave the kids with her, they all get stinky diapers. Then, last night Tom and I both got REALLY sick. Let's just say we were taking turns throwing up from about 1am-7am. We both said it was the sickest we have both been in our ENTIRE lives. It was bad! So, Linda pretty much took care of our kids all day long because we could hardly get out of bed. And it just happened to be one the few days that her husband had off from work! Don't you think we deserve the "worst guest award" and Linda deserves the "greatest person of all time" award??!